Rowan Higginson, age 10, and Gracie Higginson, age 16 are Mini-Makers in the making of growing their tye-dye and candle-making business through learning new techniques and building on the excitement of creating new, colourful clothes with tie-dye and making candles.
Rowan says, “It’s fun.” The sisters began exploring creating with tie-dye after Rowan received a tie-dye-making kit on her 8th birthday and started giving tie-dye clothes made with the kit to their family members.
“I love being creative. Our family members kept asking for shirts, so we kept making them,” she says, explaining how they began developing their tie-dye-making skills and in the process built enough product to bring to the Golden Farmer’s Market.
They attended the Golden Farmer’s Markets as part of the Mini-Makers Program by the Chamber of Commerce on two occasions (August 5 and August 14) throughout the summer and, Gracie says, they did “pretty good” with selling over 10 items.
Gracie explains it’s the process of making the items they find enjoyable. “Making stuff is fun,” she says.
Rowan says she likes the unveiling of the tie-dyed items the best.
“Everything is unique and different,” Gracie says.
“Even if we try to do it the same, it looks different because we never end up with the same colours,” Rowan says.
During a demonstration of the process of making two tie-dye shirts, the sisters explain there are different techniques for making tie-dye. As they practise their skills, they say they have been developing more clothing items with spiral designs, and they have had their challenges as they learn.
“It’s important to get in the ruffles of the material or else the die will not seep in enough,” Rowan explains as she squeezes tie-dye ink onto a shirt bound by an elastic in a spiral shape. They explain they tried to tie-dye a big sheet once and ran out of dye. Knowing the measurements is key and in their learning process, they understand how to use less dye and make the most of their materials.
“When we first started, we didn’t really know what we were doing,” Rowan explains. As they sell items the siblings explain they are reinvesting back into their business and trying new things, including glow-in-the-dark tie-dye, candle-making, and bath bombs.
They are excited about colours. Rowan loves the blues, reds, pinks and purples and Gracie loves the blue, red, and yellow colours to create a rainbow.
“Those ones turn out the best,” Gracie says.
